Everything still seems to cost money. No exemptions for anyone, except the rich and famous, some of which I've heard indicate the irony of being rich and famous having the ability to pay for things and people just give them things for free.
As for the rest of us especially those of us who survived a devastating stroke we might get initial help from family, friends and other sources but as life goes on we are expected to pull our own weight.
Many survivors I've met claim to have gone back to work too early and in hindsight they were hoping that submerging back into normal life as they knew it would make them feel normal again. It doesn't, strokes take a very long time to recover from, trying to rush it along just doesn't work.
Whether we don't have a job to go back to or whether we don't have the abilities to go back to the job we once had, I have come to understand that taking the time to recover and live life is much more important than rushing back.
Money and things were once very important to me, so important that I spent many hours of my life working to make money or taking care of my things...after knocking on death's door and not going through I have lost that drive toward money and things and commenced a new drive toward recovery and experiencing life.
Life, time and experiences have taken higher priority.
One morning after the stroke back at home I was walking my daughter, Kylie, to school. On the walk while holding my cane in one hand and Kylie's hand in the other, she turned to me in her 7 year old voice and said, "Daddy, I'm sad that you had a stroke but its great that we spend so much time together now. There were times you left for work before I woke up and you didn't get home until after I went to sleep and this happened more than one day in a row." This was the legacy I would have left her if I perished at that time.
Looking back remembering other people that have predeceased me, I think of the experiences we shared, not the money or things.
Now I cherish experiences more than ever. Hopefully I can pass this logic along to my kids. Don't get me wrong, money and things can be great, my priorities are just different now.
We need to find out if we can get assistance from the government for financial aid towards life expenses and medicine needs. Talk to other survivors and health care workers about this...but overall we need to reduce our wants and minimize our needs and when this seems hard to do I remind myself that I still have life and the ability to experience some of the awesome things in it...like holding my daughters hand or watching my son play hockey...just to name a couple.
Losing jobs, friends, house, car, financial well being and other things isn't easy, depression stays close to our side, but that's a whole other topic for another day...for now, deal with the issue at hand. What's the point of stressing about not being able to walk when I couldn't stand?
